A Russian water company in freezing Siberia installed an outdoor 'toilet of shame' to punish people who don't pay their bills

A Russian water provider has imposed a sinister way of incentivizing customers to pay their bills on time, according to a BBC report.

The “Toilet of Shame” or “Debtors’ Toilet” was recently installed outside a tower block in Irkutsk, a town in Siberia, where temperatures dip as low as -28 Celsius.

“This is a reminder to all of those who haven’t paid their debts,” the sign on it reads.

It was put in by local supplier The Northern Department of Housing and Communal Systems, spokesperson Alexei Mihailev told the BBC.

A water company in the freezing Russian region of Siberia has imposed a public “toilet of shame” outside a tower block, to punish residents who don’t pay their bills on time.

The wooden single cubicle, also called the “Debtors’ Toilet,” in the town of Irkutsk has a sign on it which says: “This is a reminder to all of those who haven’t paid their debts.”

The construction was highlighted by Sarah Rainsford, the BBC’s Moscow correspondent, in a report for BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme.

“There is one place in Siberia surely no one wants to be. Well here in the snow and the dirt, outside this tower-block there’s a wooden cabin, there’s a sign on the door which says “Debtors’ toilet,” on one side there’s an explanation: if they don’t pay up they will be reduced to using outsides toilets like this one. The toilet of shame was installed by Alexei Mihailev, fed up with all the unpaid bils”

It’s there to show people what will happen if their water is shut off because they didn’t pay their bills – and temperatures in Irkutsk can reach -28 Celsius in the winter months.

Local water supplier The Northern Department of Housing and Communal Systems is responsible for the toilet, putting it in the car park outside the tower in November.